Post-use protective elements have been used for some time for needles fitted with small wings, called “flaps”, which are constrained integral to the said needles, designed for carrying out perfusions, phleboclysis and similar operations. The aim of these devices is to prevent the medical workers piercing themselves accidentally with the needle just used on a patient who may have a pathology transmissible via blood.
The importance this protective element holds has led to the design and production of numerous protective elements of this kind. Essentially, these are cases whose construction is designed to allow the pipe used for the adduction of the liquid to be injected into or drawn from the patient to slide inside them and to allow the needle to then be concealed inside them immediately after its use. The typology of these protective elements is essentially based on a body, which is generally a hollow cylindrical shape, having two slits, located on diametrically opposing sides, for the wings with which perfusion and transfusion needles are fitted to slide into; the said slits having, in their rear portion, a front locking element, for example a step or a small tooth; in this way the needle, after being slid back into the protective element, is trapped within the latter and cannot leave it again. Naturally, to achieve the functioning of the said locking element, this element must have a certain flexibility.
Document WO 90/03196 is known, in which various embodiments of the protective element are presented.
Although the known embodiments generally offer a good degree of safety as far as the risk of piercing after use of the needle, they have certain limits as regards to the drops of blood retained which could run down the said needle; since mere contact between mucous membranes and the infected blood constitutes a serious risk, the said limits can be considered real drawbacks.